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Case summaries

These short, anonymised stories show the profound impact that failures in public services can have on the lives of individuals and their families.

Please note we have not published any new case summaries on this page since 2015. In April 2021 we began publishing our casework decision statements and investigation reports on our decisions portal. 

 

Type
Type
Health cases only
Highways Agency was not responsible for flooding
Summary 752 |
Mr J thought the Highways Agency's road improvements had caused significant flooding to his land. He first asked the Agency to look into his complaint, and then went to the Independent Complaints Assessor (ICA), which deals with complaints about the Department for Transport and its agencies.
HMCTS did not cause unnecessary bailiff visit
Summary 750 |
HM Courts & Tribunals Service (HMCTS) court staff acted reasonably when issuing a certificate of judgment (an order to enforce a judgment). Some of HMCTS's correspondence handling could have been better; however it took satisfactory steps to put this right.
HMRC failed to help customer get his tax right
Summary 749 |
Mr T complained that it took HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) too long to sort out his tax affairs. He also said that the Adjudicator's investigation of his complaint did not put things right.
Court failed to record the hearing of a case
Summary 745 |
Claimant in a court case wanted to know why the judge found in favour of the defendant, but discovered the court had failed to record the hearing. The claimant would never know the reason for the judge's decision.